immigrants' use of prestige brands to convey status - Emerald

Immigrants’ use of prestige brands to convey status
Lynn Eunjung Kwak and Jane Z. Sojka
University and her PhD from Washington State University.
She is a recent recipient of Ohio University’s University
Professor teaching award and is the current Robert
H. Freeman Professor of Marketing. Dr Sojka has worked
as a marketing consultant prior to being employed as
materials manager for the Coleman Company. Research
interests include affect and decision processing, relationship
selling, visual/verbal communication, branding, and food
purchase/consumption.
Executive summary and implications for
managers and executives
This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives
a rapid appreciation of the content of this article. Those with a
particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in
toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the
research undertaken and its results to get the full benefits of the
material present.
Consumers justify the purchase of brand named products
based on the value ascribed to the brand. Immigrant
consumers currently represent about 12 percent of the
current USA. (US Census Bureau, 2005). Hispanics and
Asian ethnic groups are the fastest growing populations in the
USA, in terms of size and spending power. It therefore
behooves retailers to understand the buying behavior of these
significant ethnic groups. While previous research has tended
toward segmenting these ethnic groups into smaller, subcultural
segments, we take the opposite approach and look for
similarities in buying behavior so that practitioners may gain
from economies of scale. This paper examines propensity to
purchase high-priced prestige brands by Hispanic and Asia
immigrant consumers.
Degree of ethnicity and brand value
Consumers use high-priced prestige brands as a means of
conveying status. According to Veblen, conspicuous
consumption allows people to project an image of success or
status via purchases that convey meaning. High-priced
prestige branded products (such as Gucci sunglasses or
Louie Vuitton purses) may be used by the consumer to
convey a status image to others. The need to use high-price
status brands to convey status may be particularly useful to
immigrant populations in the USA.
Immigrants to the USA may arrive in a new culture with no
identity, limited means of communicating self-concept, and at
least initially, lack of traditional means of status through job
title, income, social status, or reference groups. Hence, for
immigrant populations, product purchase and consumption
may be an important means of establishing themselves in a
new world.
This paper investigates the proposition that immigrants
with higher degrees of ethnic identification are more likely to
purchase expensive prestige brands. Immigrants, who have
assimilated into the host (US) culture, thereby reducing
ethnic identity with their original home culture, may not need
to rely on surrogate means, such as prestige brands, to
establish status and reinforce self-concept. However those
immigrants who retain strong ties with their ethnic identity
(regardless of years in the USA) may be prone to high-price
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Volume 27 · Number 4 · 2010 · 371–380
brand purchases to convey status and reinforce their selfconcept.
One of the premises of this research is to demonstrate that
the immigration process – not the culture from which one is
immigrating – produces consumer behavior that can be
generalized across cultures. If this is true, we would expect
similar preferences for high-priced prestige brand products
regardless of different ethnic origins of immigrants. In
addition to examining the effects of ethnic identification,
years in the USA, education, income and age are also
investigated for propensity to purchase high-priced branded
products.
Study and results
The degree of ethnic identity and demographic characteristics
(the length of residency in the USA, education, income, age,
and origin of ethnicity) were examined in relation to brand
purchases for status. Data were collected in a large,
Midwestern city at a retail outlet where immigrant
populations shop. Using both English and translated
surveys, degree of ethnic identity, propensity toward brand
purchases were collected via established scales; the remaining
variables were single-item questions. A total of 324 immigrant
consumers participated in the research with both ethnic
groups similarly represented (Hispanics; n ¼ 173 and Asians;
n ¼ 151).
Results show degree of ethnic identity, income, and age
predict the purchase of high-priced prestige brands to convey
status. Stronger identity with his/her ethnic culture, results in
a greater likelihood to purchase high-priced branded products
for status purposes. Similarly, immigrants with high incomes
are more likely to purchase high-priced prestige brands. And,
consistent with US research on teens, age was found to be
inversely related to brand purchases. Younger immigrants
report a greater propensity to purchase high-priced prestige
brands. The propensity to purchase high-priced prestige
brands was not related to immigrants’ length of time in the
USA, education, or origin of ethnicity.
Marketing implications and ideas for further research
Marketing theory purports that marketing components must
be individually tailored to successfully target each segment
within each subculture; however, segmenting within a
subculture becomes a costly proposition. Our research
suggests that one aspect – high-priced prestige brands –
might transcend culture and appeal to immigrants regardless
of their home culture. The results of this research indicated
that the preference for the high-priced prestige brands
depends on the degree of ethnic identification rather than
the ethnic origin of immigrants. Therefore, practitioners need
to be aware of the intensity of ethnic affiliation – not just
ethnic affiliation – as an important concept in understanding
their customers’ purchase behaviors. In addition to reducing
the costs of targeting multiple sub-cultures within a culture,
offering high-priced prestige brands also provides higher
mark-up and greater potential for profitability for retailers. In
short, our results suggest that retailers targeting immigrant
consumers with high degrees of ethnic identification, high
income, and/or younger in age should include high-priced
prestige brands in their product lines.
In addition to targeting immigrants who maintain strong
ethnic identities, immigrants who aspire to status but lack
economic resources, might also be susceptible to purchase
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